National Republican., 1887-02-09
Argument OF Hon. E. N. Diokerson In
the He'll Telephone Caae.

IL
portrayed his client, and his relation to what
is called the government suit;
This Is the old story; the world knows IL by
heart. II Is written In the blood of tho lrtyrs
shed In this holy cause in every age since the
e,etnai % %Sonllict between truth ana lie began.
erected by succeeding generations, In hollow
mockery of the embittered lives and melau-
eholy deathsof the worlds sbenetactors. James
Watt, Of whom Lord Brough said that he not
wellington, conquered Napoleon, travelled
through this very vale of humiliation and the
shadow of death; and In the bitterness OF his
heart cried out; They assail my honor that they
may rob me Of my proHts."' But where arc
hCU now
fie sleeps in that magnificent mausoleum
where England gathers her ilustrious dead,
embalmed in public veneratlon, and secure OF
imperjshable fame; while long years ago the
waters Of oblivion had overwhelmed tho very
names OF his traducers with public contempt
and imperishable infamy.
But In all the records of the past there Is
none that approaches Belrs-eithcr In glory or
In shame-since Alexander conquered the
world nt the age OF 30 years, and was a5saSsl
mated out of envy and Jealousy that he had
done so much.
Before Prof. Bell was 80 years Old he had
conquered In the world OF science, where no
dying groans or widows tears embltter tho vic.
tory, but where victor and vanquished alike
enjoy Its fruits
kttho Centennial the ndulation from the as.
sembled scientists Of the world waited to his
senses the ioretnste OF enduring fame.
Az the British Assoclalio ion la England he was
the admired of all admirers.
AT home the learned and the great of each
city We'd with the others to do hiI honor.
The great Napoleon had founded the Volta
prize, to be given by the French government
TO those who should mako inventions OF
transcendent interest In electricity. upon the
recommendation OF the Academy of Sciencei-
II was 5000 frames sud the grand cross. The
academy, for tho frat time In thirty years,
recommended Prof Bell, anl he went 10 PIrs
to receive II, and thore laid upon their table
his phoioPhone, by which he talks through Il
ray Of sunlight as far as 1t eau be preserved by
lenses.
The Heidelberg University, on its uye-huu-
dredth anniversary, istyeAr, within t.l miles
Of Rtis's home, gave Its diploma 70 "that dis
tinguishcd man, AleXardtr Gr. Bell, VINO has
conferred on mnnki d the great and con.
siantly increasing benefits of labo; saved, by
his ingenious discovery of the telephon y"
while at that very hour the United 81 Ites gov
eminent had a special agent there begging the
Germans in vain 10 take the honor iOr their
own countrymnn, Refs, aud u illch Ii from
But he had done too much f,r the world.
and as Judge Grier eloquently remarked In
Goodyeat,s case, envy would rob hIm Of III,
OF his invention" And while the courts of
Great Pritain were with Judicial anxiety"
striving TO save something for the owners of
his patent there, because II was a fragment OF
great invention unfortunately lost to Its
inventor by careless publication IN England,
conspiracy was Matching at home to rob him
The appellants have ilourished in their briefs
what they call the executive departments"
efforts against us. The infringers pleaded that
sO-called government suit In New Orleans as q
bar TO cur action, but the judges made short
work of II, saying THE filing of an iuforma-
tion cannot raise n trestm ption of guilt. No
more can the institution Of n suit to annul
create q presumption of nullity."
Prot. Bell has had to meet so formidable an
adversary as the Department of Justice. in ad.
dition to the vast army OF infringers who
M npnr al al nv
has been invoked with its poisoned arrows
as the chief weapon of warfare, and the air has
been thick with the. grossest vituperation for
Arcadian hills with his horrld roar, has
Joined in the hunt. and drawn after him the
inconstant multitude.
not daring 10 look behind us for iearwo sho lid
lose our way, until at last we have rolled this
huge stone to the top of the hill, where we
await your judgment on our labors
But. alas, that Judgment, II it pronounce
Prof Bell to be as white as snow, as did the
New Orleans judgment, is only the beginning,
and our labor Will be that Of sysiphp; The
as a permanency what Is now known as the
Bell telephone annex" 10 the Department of
Justice, with chief salaried by the year, and
attorneys general, paid by the day, or the job,
to hunt down this Innocent man TO death or
destruction, Il the resources Of the treasury of
the United States and the ingenuity of I'M
limited able counsel can accomplish 1t.
Every defense In this case is set up to bo
tried over again in that with one addition,
briei, because tho. annex under the circum.
stances, is not satisfied with the decisions so
far rendered, which Brother Lowrey, the Sec
ond officer OF the annex, characterizcs as "a
spurious brood" Four weary years were spent
in the Drawbargh case alone, and all must be
done arain--this time with the treasury of the
United states to pay for the witnesses and re-
ward the efforts of counsel. Gray's miserable
fraud must again be pressed against US with
numbers of fresh witnesses.
Calumnies which have been hissed out in
this presence againt Prof Bell, sDarlng not
even bis venerable Narcnts, are multiplied ten.
fold in a yenal press, and the prospect Is
dreary. Neither Brother sIorow nor I have
life enough or Strength enough to go over all
this dreadful work again..
Before we submit to that however, we pro-
pose to try the question Of Jurisdiction to the
bitter end, and We don't believe 1t can be
cone TO us-let Pan roar never so loud. But
II II can, then younger and stronger, and we
may hope wiser and ADLER men, must take our
places, and, guided by, our experience, and
as they can from these fierce assaults.
Meanwhile, Prof Bell contemplatesit 1t all In
profound astonishment and horror. Day by
dSy In p ahd In sha
counsel for protection. We are compelled to
tell him that in this free and happy country
he can have no protection l-thlt he NAV be
denounced. as he has been in the public news
papers of the highest influence and greatest cir.
culation. as a forger ana periurer, and III erc IS
no redress which is not worse than to submit.
Mangled and bleeding by some of these fearful
accusations, which grow blacker day by day,
he has begged us TO show him some way in
which he can vindicate himself In the eyes of
the world which has honored him so much. /
have said to him, 'Wait-take courage my
friend. and live through 1t till we can reach
hs S G0h he a1a then SSn en S b ye y So
long and keep silent?" could only point him
to our great example. who in his hour OF
agony was dumb before His accusers, and
come.
And now say to the "Annex" that when
this dreadful conflict is over, when the whrl.
clouds and the filth with which we are not
surrounded, and when the roaring of the beast
shall be heard no more, the nnme OF A'exan-
written, as 1t now is, on the roll Of lmmortals,
where but few appear through the ages, and
where we read such names as Pythagoras,
Euclid, Archimedes, Copernieus, Glllio
Faraday, and Henry.
In future years, When the telephone shall be
IN every house, as necessary TO life rs the
clothes they wear, and when the name of Bell
shall be as familiar In ber mouths as household
words, II will be wondered at that no was
treated SO by this ''annex," which has momen'
tarily the power to use the name and the treas
ury OF this great and generous people to persc'
cute him, just as we now wonder when W.
contemplate that most pathetic picture in his
tory, in which the bauished Caius Marus, the
saviour of Rome, stands on the Carthegenian
shore gazing intently on the blue waters of the
Mediterranean TO that distant land where his
lares and penates are desolate, and crying out
in his agony, 20! Rome, what crime have
committedp'
All, sirs, the crimo he committed Is the crime
which the benefactors of their race In all ages
commit-the crime OF having deserved 50
much that the baser sort at last hate to see
them aud to hear them called 30. agathos'-
the just.